Pre-Game Thread- Bears @ Pats

[One-If-By-Sea]

I do acknowledge it but that's all we have. He dominated the lesser teams in his conference and either went toe to toe or was competitive against better opponents:

UT Martin W 59-21: 424 yds 7 TD / 1 Int

@ Army L 38-35: 435 yds 3 TD / 1 Int

Indiana L 33-31: 365 yds 3 TD / 0 Int

@ (17)Michigan St L 48-31: 488 yds 3 TD / 0 Int

UTSA L 52-46: 523 yds 5 TD / 1 Int

@Old Dominion W 43-20: 397 yds 5 TD / 1 Int

@ FIU W 34-19: 382 3 TD / 0 Int

Charlotte W 45-13: 393 yds 4 TD / 2 Int

Middle Tennessee W 48-21: 281 yds 4 TD / 0 Int

at Rice W 42-21: 482 yds 5 TD / 1 Int

Florida Atlantic W 52-17: 470 yds 6 TD / 2 Int

@ Marshall W 53-21: 328 yds 4 TD / 0 Int

@ UTSA L 49-41: 577 yds 4 TD / 2 Int

Boca Raton Bowl
vsAppalachian St W 59-38: 422 yds 6 TD / 0 Int

Against Army, Indiana & Michigan State he averaged 429 yds & had 9 TD / 1 Int. He had 686 attempts in 14 games (49 per game) with a 69.2% completion. That's amazing after his 1st & only year in the FBS.

View attachment 46538

In 3 NFL games he has 4 TD / 1 Int with training wheels on. I think Bill found himself a high quality black pearl. Kid is a baller. Let him cook.

Could be. Maybe not. College success does not always translate. Look at Davis Mills, good college career, pretty good rookie NFL year, not great sophomore start.

With the NFL the QB has to be great to consistently win including the SB. Being above average does not cut it. Tough job. Zappe is not the tallest, not the fastest, and not the strongest arm, so it will be a tough climb for him. Great pocket presence, great intelligence, and great temperament, so he appears to have the intangibles.

What if Zappe is Drew Brees? HOF career and 1 SB in 20 years. Is that what we want?

 

[venecol]

Could be. Maybe not. College success does not always translate. Look at Davis Mills, good college career, pretty good rookie NFL year, not great sophomore start.

With the NFL the QB has to be great to consistently win including the SB. Being above average does not cut it. Tough job. Zappe is not the tallest, not the fastest, and not the strongest arm, so it will be a tough climb for him. Great pocket presence, great intelligence, and great temperament, so he appears to have the intangibles.

What if Zappe is Drew Brees? HOF career and 1 SB in 20 years. Is that what we want?

I'll take another SB. Anything to get past the squeelers.

 

[Gumby]

Could be. Maybe not. College success does not always translate. Look at Davis Mills, good college career, pretty good rookie NFL year, not great sophomore start.

With the NFL the QB has to be great to consistently win including the SB. Being above average does not cut it. Tough job. Zappe is not the tallest, not the fastest, and not the strongest arm, so it will be a tough climb for him. Great pocket presence, great intelligence, and great temperament, so he appears to have the intangibles.

What if Zappe is Drew Brees? HOF career and 1 SB in 20 years. Is that what we want?

Drew Brees married up w BB would have had 2-3 SB.

i could live w a drew Brees quality-level qb for 10!years ( whether Mac or Bailey). Because I think the outcome of that quality in NE would be different than SD /NO.

 

[TomPatriot]

"...The goal should be to strike a balance..."

Between what, Evan: winning and losing? I don't know about you, but I don't wanna go back to the "plays with Jones during the first 3 games" when we were 1-2, taking sacks and throwing picks. How about this phrase instead: If it ain't broke, then DON'T ****ING FIX IT.

A better theme would be to build on what the offense has done the last three games, where the offense was already pretty balanced.

 

[TomPatriot]

We are going nowhere with a simplified "Zappe" type of offense. We tried that last year. Didn't work. Why do you want to go back to it?

Idk. Pretty much had the same offensive stats last year as the Bengals. The Bengals were a play away from winning the SB.

 

[ashley]

 

[TommyD4207]

I do acknowledge it but that's all we have. He dominated the lesser teams in his conference and either went toe to toe or was competitive against better opponents:

UT Martin W 59-21: 424 yds 7 TD / 1 Int

@ Army L 38-35: 435 yds 3 TD / 1 Int

Indiana L 33-31: 365 yds 3 TD / 0 Int

@ (17)Michigan St L 48-31: 488 yds 3 TD / 0 Int

UTSA L 52-46: 523 yds 5 TD / 1 Int

@Old Dominion W 43-20: 397 yds 5 TD / 1 Int

@ FIU W 34-19: 382 3 TD / 0 Int

Charlotte W 45-13: 393 yds 4 TD / 2 Int

Middle Tennessee W 48-21: 281 yds 4 TD / 0 Int

at Rice W 42-21: 482 yds 5 TD / 1 Int

Florida Atlantic W 52-17: 470 yds 6 TD / 2 Int

@ Marshall W 53-21: 328 yds 4 TD / 0 Int

@ UTSA L 49-41: 577 yds 4 TD / 2 Int

Boca Raton Bowl
vsAppalachian St W 59-38: 422 yds 6 TD / 0 Int

Against Army, Indiana & Michigan State he averaged 429 yds & had 9 TD / 1 Int. He had 686 attempts in 14 games (49 per game) with a 69.2% completion. That's amazing after his 1st & only year in the FBS.

View attachment 46538

In 3 NFL games he has 4 TD / 1 Int with training wheels on. I think Bill found himself a high quality black pearl. Kid is a baller. Let him cook.

That's a real 'Who's That?' of the college football landscape.

 

[venecol]

That's a real 'Who's That?' of the college football landscape.

You've never heard of Army, Indiana & Michigan State? Ok then.

 

[Darrone]

I just looked at ticket prices and DAMN, if you want to go to a game for cheap and already own a poncho, you can get through the gate for $40 right now.

 

[mikey m]

Does anyone actually have an explanation for wtf we were trying to do offensively the first 3 weeks? I still don't understand the "more complex" offense that ran the ball like 80% when under center, threw it 90% from the gun, and forced throws down the field to average-at-best downfield receivers with safeties sitting on it.
The "Zappe offense" would obviously have to be opened up to continue to be successful, but seriously, what parts of the early offense do we want to keep? Like specifically, not just the "aggressiveness".

 

[venecol]

Does anyone actually have an explanation for wtf we were trying to do offensively the first 3 weeks? I still don't understand the "more complex" offense that ran the ball like 80% when under center, threw it 90% from the gun, and forced throws down the field to average-at-best downfield receivers with safeties sitting on it.
The "Zappe offense" would obviously have to be opened up to continue to be successful, but seriously, what parts of the early offense do we want to keep? Like specifically, not just the "aggressiveness".

Not only that, but used PA at the lowest rate in the league, benched Bourne & under utilized the TEs. It made no sense. I hope we never go back to that "more complex" offense. Lol

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

You've never heard of Army, Indiana & Michigan State? Ok then.

Yes I have heard of them, but that is still a pretty weak schedule.

 

[Salsalife]

Heard Mac got most of the reps in practice Saturday. Somebody quoted Zolak on the site saying Mac footwork didn't look right. I wanna do Alamo but i need to know who's the starter.

 

[upstater1]

Drew Brees married up w BB would have had 2-3 SB.

i could live w a drew Brees quality-level qb for 10!years ( whether Mac or Bailey). Because I think the outcome of that quality in NE would be different than SD /NO.

I know this is going to come off as belittling you but Patriots fans have completely unrealistic expectations.

We're not going to have a Drew Brees quality - level QB in New England in the next 2 decades.

 

[Thelonious]

To my eye, the offense Zappe ran during his stint was MARKEDLY more open and complex than the offense Josh put together for Mac most if not all of last year. I'll note as well that when Mac was given a more "full-featured" offense THIS year, the results have been mediocre in most respects, and dismal with respect to turnovers. The record over that span was a losing one.

Frankly I see no empirical reason whatever to start Mac over Zappe, this week or any other, until Zappe falters significantly. The only "reason" is that "Mac has been the starter" or "he's a first-rounder," neither of which rationalizations takes notice of performance and so of "doing what is best for the team" Others are worried that Mac might get all weepy or something, or that they might.

However, here we are, and I'll be rooting for him - sincerely - but hoping too that he is on the very short leash he has earned by his performance so far this year.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I just looked at ticket prices and DAMN, if you want to go to a game for cheap and already own a poncho, you can get through the gate for $40 right now.

Im out of state so i dont look at the prices much, but I always thought it was like $150 minimum to get into Gillette

 

[TommyD4207]

You've never heard of Army, Indiana & Michigan State? Ok then.

I've heard of Michigan State. I think they were up 48-16 in that game late. Army's one of the teams Notre Dame beats up on to pad their record every year, right? And we all know what a big time powerhouse Indiana football is. We all know.

I've been pleased with how Zappe's played, but this is a gigantic stretch.

 

[patfanken]

The Browns played all of their prior opponents tough too. And look what happened.

Tom, if the Bears turn the ball over 4 times and we get 2 or 3 fourth down stop then THIS game will be a blow out too. I really hope that this will be the case on Monday too, BUT you can hope, but it is VERY unlikely to happen. Like I said before I'd be THRILLED with 2 TO's and happy with one.

There are a lot of things that go into the making of a TO. There are individual great plays like punching the ball out but even then, the ball has to bounce to one of YOUR guys instead of their guys. And of course a bit of luck is required on tipped balls. Most just fall to the ground, but a few land into the hands of a defender. Its hard to rely on the OTHER team to make mistakes and GIVE you the ball. It happens, but you can never COUNT on it.

 

[captain stone]

Does anyone actually have an explanation for wtf we were trying to do offensively the first 3 weeks? I still don't understand the "more complex" offense that ran the ball like 80% when under center, threw it 90% from the gun, and forced throws down the field to average-at-best downfield receivers with safeties sitting on it.
The "Zappe offense" would obviously have to be opened up to continue to be successful, but seriously, what parts of the early offense do we want to keep? Like specifically, not just the "aggressiveness".

Not only that, but used PA at the lowest rate in the league, benched Bourne & under utilized the TEs. It made no sense. I hope we never go back to that "more complex" offense. Lol

To my eye, the offense Zappe ran during his stint was MARKEDLY more open and complex than the offense Josh put together for Mac most if not all of last year. I'll note as well that when Mac was given a more "full-featured" offense THIS year, the results have been mediocre in most respects, and dismal with respect to turnovers. The record over that span was a losing one.

Frankly I see no empirical reason whatever to start Mac over Zappe, this week or any other, until Zappe falters significantly. The only "reason" is that "Mac has been the starter" or "he's a first-rounder," neither of which rationalizations takes notice of performance and so of "doing what is best for the team" Others are worried that Mac might get all weepy or something, or that they might.

However, here we are, and I'll be rooting for him - sincerely - but hoping too that he is on the very short leash he has earned by his performance so far this year.

Yeah these were the points I was trying to make earlier, in response to Lazar's tweet... I just didn't explain my reasons for those points as well as you folks just did.

 

[Zuma]